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Manchester City faced Arsenal at the Emirates in the Quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup. With Brentford having beaten Newcastle in the earlier game 1-0, the cup provided the potential for another upset. Arsenal are currently sitting 15th in the Premier League table after getting just 14 points in 14 games, with of course 3 of these points against Manchester United.
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Could Pep Guardiola’s old assistant Mikel Arteta cause City Christmas upset and make it to the semi-finals?
Just two minutes in and it seemed as though the answer to the question may be clear. Oleksandr Zinchenko put in a cross from the left-hand side to Gabriel Jesus in the 6-yard box who headed the ball home. 1-0 Blues!
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Possession wise, after 10 minutes City had 89 percent which suggested the game may be heading the most likely way.
Shortly after 20 minutes, City had a corner taken by Riyad Mahrez and it was fired into Aymeric Laporte who put it just wide.
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Completely against the run of play, Arsenal scored. Gabriel Martinelli paced down the left-hand side and provided the cross for Alexandre Lacazette who headed the ball into the top left corner, leaving Zack Steffen with no chance. Laporte should have been goal side of Lacazette arguably, 1-1.
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City had a good chance towards the end of the first half, Phil Foden nutmegged Shkodran Mustafi and it took a flick off of the Arsenal defender and was through to Jesus who struck the ball and Arsenal keeper Rúnar Rúnarsson produced a good save.
The final action of the first half saw Martinelli in City’s half and Steffen produced an Ederson-esque tackle and ended Arsenal’s run of possession.
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10 minutes into the second half, City had a freekick on the edge of the box as Mahrez was brought down. Mahrez also took the kick and it was straight at Rúnarsson but he fumbled it and it hit the back of the net. 2-1 Blues.
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5 minutes later and it was 3-1! Fernandinho played a ball through to Foden and Rúnarsson ran out to him and Phil produced a lovely chip over the keeper into the back of the net. It seemed as though Foden was offside but there was no VAR… not that it would matter.
With 20 minutes to go, Bernado Silva was off and replaced by Ferran Torres.
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The game was surely put to bed shortly after the substitution when Mahrez passed to Foden from a corner, who whipped the ball into Laporte who headed it home. 4-1.
Rodri was the next City player to leave the pitch, replaced by Kyle Walker.
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With 5 minutes to go, even the fake Sky Sports crowd were chanting City songs as the home fans would have been long gone.
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18 games in the competition for City without defeat.
Gabriel Jesus Goal
Gabriel Jesus gives Man City the lead after two minutes.
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 22, 2020
That defending from Arsenal pic.twitter.com/mpoAXVJS9R
Final Score: Arsenal 1-4 Manchester City